Officer reveals why special squads execute 'criminals'

By Kipchumba Some

A haunting question often asked by families of the missing persons is: "If indeed these people are criminals as police usually claim, then why are they not taken to court to be tried and prosecuted?"

I posed this question to a police source who serves in one of the covert squads.

Frustrations by the courts, cheap penalties, and lack of equipment to conduct foolproof investigations have conspired to make the work of the police investigative department a daunting task.

"Most of those we arrest are criminals," he claimed. "But proving that in court is always difficult for our prosecutors. With a good lawyer, a criminal will walk out of courts a free man."

And that, according to our source, is what has forced the police to dispense their own form of summary justice –– execution –– to those they believe are criminals.

"Once they are dead, they will not have a chance to come to the streets and disturb us or the public again. That is the most practical solution to dealing with criminals here," he said.

He cites the example of Kimani Ruo, former Mungiki coordinator in Rift Valley, who is suspected to have been abducted by police a few hours after the court found him innocent of charges of possession of guns. His body is yet to be found.

"Ruo was guilty and we knew it. But it was frustrating to arrest someone only for the court to release him. We do not have the time and patience come to court for days or months because of the same man. I hope you can appreciate the frustration. That is why he had to die," he said.

What about the innocent caught up in this kind of justice? We posed.

"In every operation, there must be casualties," he answered coldly. "It is unavoidable. But it is never the intention of the police to kill innocent people."

Then, who should be held accountable for the death of the innocent ones?

"The society that wants order and law should be held accountable," he said.

In its 2008 report on unlawful killings by the police titled "A Cry for Blood," the KNCHR called for delinking of the investigation function of the police from that of prosecution.

"...The police should not be investigators and prosecutors particularly given the numerous opportunities for ‘collecting rents’ that this entails," the report noted.

Apart from opening avenues for ‘rent collection’, police lack proper investigative and prosecution wings. This explains why the force has been losing crucial cases.

The courts, on the other hand, have nearly a million unsolved cases, mostly involving minor crimes. The Judiciary has been unable to process them all.

But in concluded ones, the courts have been blamed for meting out ‘cheap’ sentences, which our source termed a ‘slap on the wrist’.